Differential-speed can-feed mechanism



April 20 1926.

. L. GUENTHER DIFFERENTIAL. SPEED CAN FEED MECHANISM Filed Dec. 21, 1921 2 Sheets-Shee- :auf

April 20 1926. 1,581,201

l. GUENTHER DIFFERENTIAL SPEED CAN FEED MECHANISM Filed De@A 2l, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR A TTOR NE Y Patented Apr.` 20, 1926.

HENRY L. GUENTHER, or Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

DIFFERENTIAL-SPED CAN-FEED MI?.CIEIANIS,111:.

` g Application led December 21, 1921. Serial No: 523,826. I

Speed Can-Feed Mechanism, of which the V the seaming machine.

following is a specification.

This invention relates to a. can feeding device and particularly pertains to a differential can feeding mechanism.

It is the principal object of the present.

invention to provide means for feeding can bodies and can caps co-incidently toga double seaining machine, the can bodies being filled with fruit, vegetables orother material. It has been found in practice that high speed of double seaming machines have been prohibitive diie to the fact that the cans were fed to them while their rate ofi speed inl travel was rapidly increased as theyentered the machine. It has been the principal object of this invention, therefore, to increase the speed of the cans gradually and thus to deliver the cans to the machine after it-has gradually increased in speed to'the rate of travel it will assume while passing through The present invention contemplates the use of a constantly operated, -slow speed mechanism, and a high speeding mechanism to which the cans are subsequently delivered; interposed between said mechanisms being a differential speed feeding device which increases the speed of the cans from that at which they are being fed along the first device to the speed of the last named feeding device.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, 1n which:

Figure 1 is a view in plan disclosing the complete feed mechanism with which the present invention is concerned.

Fig. 2 is a View in vertical section through the feed device showing the general arrangement and driving construction of the parts.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 10 indicates the main body of a double seaming machine. Secured to this member and near the bottom thereof is a bearing frame 11, while secured in horizontal spaced relation above this frame is an upper bearing frame 12. The lower frame carries suitable vertical bearings for the shafts of the mechanism, which bearings are complementary to similar bearings embodied within the upper frame member. At the extreme outer end of the frame member a vertical feed shaft 13 is rotatably secured. This 4shaft is designed to operate a lever arm 14 secured to its upper end, Vwhich. arm'is pivotally connected to a pitman rod 15. The pitinan rod 15 is secured to a cross head 16 of a can cap feeding mechanism; This mechanism comprises a pair of parallel feed bars 17 which normally support a stack of can caps 18 and are'so formed'as tocut the lower-most can cap from the stack when the bars are alternately reciprocated. e

A pusher bar 19 is also secured to the cross head and acts to push the lower-most can cap from the stack. between a top plate 20 and a floor plate 21.

These members slide f1 i It Will beunderstood that the floor plate y is above the normal top of the cans whichv pass through the machine and that the can caps will besuccessively dropped from the stack to be engaged by mechanism which will carry them through the machine with the'can bodies. The can caps are fed to be delivered directly above guide rails 22 and 23. These rails are concentric to a sha-ft 24 around which a plurality of differentially operating feed members rotate and whichmechanism will` behereinafter described. The rails 22 and 23 tend to guide can bodies 25 from the initial slow speed mechanism to the high speed mechanism at the opposite end of the cam track.

The slow speed device comprises a horizonta'lly disposed rotary disc 26 which is mounted upon a shaft 27. This vdisc lies' substantially flush with the upper face of a base plate 28. It is common practice to provide a disc upon which the cans rest and by which they are frictionally engaged, in thel gers 29 are carried by pivoted arms 31. The

arms are secured to lugs formed as part of the disc projecting downwardly therefrom. The arms and fingers will normally fall away from the disc and the upper ends of the fingers will lie flush with the upper face of the disc until such a time as the arms strike a lifting cam 32. This cam will swing the arms upwardly and project the fingers through the openings 30 of the disc. The

arms will then swing in behindthe forward ly moving cans and will positively Afeed them. This is particularly necessary due to the fact that a gradual increase of speed of centric to the shaft 27 and will gradually' crowd the cans outwardly toward the edge f of the feed disc 26. This will cause them to more rapidly travel as they pass from the ends of the track members 33 and 34 and into engagement with the differential feeding arms 35.

Another positive means of feeding the'cans forwardly as the disc 26 rotates comprises a central :hub 36 carrying a plurality of yieldablyradial arms 37. These arms are held lin their outer-most positions by expansion springs 38 and act to positively feed the cans while moving out of the way when a can is fed onto the disc and out of synchronism with the feeding .mchanism. Y

The arms 35 are separately pivoted to the vertical shaft 24. These arms are intended to have independent movement relative to each other. This movementis brought about by a sprocket chain 39 which passes around a sprocket 40 carried upon a shaft 24. The

- chain also travels around an eccentric guide member 41 which causes the chain to travel in an eccentric path of travel around the shaft 24 and the speed of the cans will be accelerated as `will be readily understood. Each of the arms 35 is formed with radial slide-ways 42 which receive sliding blocks 43. Each of the sliding blocks is fitted with a pin 44 carried by the sprocket chain. By reference to Fig'. 1 it will thus be noted that as the arms are driven and 'caused to swing around the shaft 24 by the driving action of the chain the blocks will swing in and out and will exercise different levera es upon the arms to cause them to not on y swing around the shaft 24 but to have an independent swinging movement relative to each other. Thus it will be seen that the arms are close together on the right hand side of the shaft 24 and are farther apart on the opposite side. This is due to the fact that the speed of the arms increases from right to left and the cans thus delivered to a fina-l feeding spider 45 at a muchgreater speed of travel than when eceived by the arms as delivered from' the iirst feed disc 26.

It will be understood that each of the arms are formed with semi-circular recesses 46 into which the canbodies seat,A said recesses'carrying can cap feed blades 47 for engaging the. lower-most can cap fed from therealong.

the stack 18 and for carrying this cap between the track members 23 and 24 and The driving mechanism of the present invention comprises a main spur O'ear 47 which may be driven from any suitalble source of power and -which is keyed to the shaft 24. This gear is in mesh with an intermediate gear 48 which drives a gear 49. The gear 49 is carried upon a spur shaft 50 carrying a gear 51. This gear is in mesh with a large gear 52 secured to the shaft 27 and driving the disc 26. The gear 49 is also in mesh with a gear 53 secured to the lower end of the can cap Vfeed shaft 13.

With reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that a housing54 is formed in the supporting frame structure 12 andthrough which shaft 24 extends.- A supporting member 55 Vis disposed in this housing and circumscribes ,the shaft. This member serves as a guidev for the chain and carries the eccentric guide portion 41l previously described.

In operation of the present invention, cans are fed from a suitable supplyto the feed disc 26. At this point they are deposited on the `horizontal disc which is rotated in the direction ofthe arrow A As the disc moves forwardly with the cans the fingers 29 will be projected upwardly when their lever arms strike the track cam 3.2 and elevates y them. The cans will then pass along between the guide tracks 33 and 34 gradually moving outwardly towards the edge of the disc 26 and thereafter coming into register with the recess 46 of one of the differential feed arms At this point the can will pass between the feed arm and the outer guide Vtrack member 22. The feed arms will at this time be moving at their slowest rate of speed due to the increased lever arm ac tion of the chain and the slide blocks. As the arms proceed to be driven around the shaft 24 the slide blocks will gradually move ahead shortening the leverage and increasing the speed of travel of the arm. This will act to whip the arm around and g1 adually increase its speed. At a point intermediate the point of receiving the can body and` discharging the same, a can cap is fed from the stack 18. This is engaged by the upstanding blade 47 carried by the arm and will be then carried along the track members 22 and 23 to the point of discharge of the can from the arm and to. the spider 45. It will be understood that the shaft 13 has been operating in synchronism with the other shafts and that the feed bars 17 and the bar 19 will be alternately reciprocated to 'su cessively feed the can caps onto the tracks 22 and 23 and int-o engagement by the blade 47 "of the various arms 35. l

It will thus be seen that the present invention embodies a very compact and mechanical arrangement whereby cans and their ca ps ally increased rate of speed and by a movement which is entirely positive.

YWhile I have shown the preferred form of my invention, as now known to me, it will be understood that various changes in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit' of the A invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Let-l ters Patent is:

1. In a can capping machine, a can feed device comprising a feed disc, onto which a i flow of cans-are delivered, an accelerating feed device interposed between said disc andv tion with said disc for gradually accelerating the rate of travel of the cans as they are delivered to the second feed-means, intermittently operated positive means for feeding the cans forwardly with the disc, and

' yieldable means for disposing the cans in register with 'the positive feed means of the disc.

2. In a can capping machine, a can feed device comprising a rotary disk onto which a flow of cans is delivered, an eccentric track disposed above said disk and along which the'cans are fed by a uniform rotation of the disk, positive means adapted to be automatically disposed in the rear of each of the cans delivered to the disk and by which the cans will be positively fed along the track, and a plurality of can feed arms swinging around a common axis and adapted to receive the cans fed along the track and being independently movable and means interposed betweenV said device and the arms whereby they will be caused to swing around their axis at a differential speed.

3. In-a can capping machine, a can feed device, comprising a rotary disk onto which a iow of cans is delivered, an eccentric track disposed above said disks and along which the cans are fed by a uniform rotation of the disk, positive means adapted to be automatically disposed in the rear of each of the cans delivered to the disk and by which thecans will be positively fed along the track and a plurality of can feed arms separately pivoted swinging around a common axis and adapted to receive the cans fed along the track and means interposed between said device and` the arms whereby they will be caused to swing around their axis at a differential speed. Y 1

y4I. In a can capping machine, a xcan feed device comprising a feed disc, means for dri-ving said disc at a constant rate of speed, vertically moving feed means adapted to be projected through the disc to positively engage the cans delivered to the disc, and radially slidable spring actuated fingers adapted to engage the cans andarrange them tol travel forwardly with the discat predetermined intervals.

5. In a can feed mechanism an accelerating feed device comprising a plurality of radial arms adapted to travel around a common center and to receive cans at their outer ends, a driving device therefor, operatmg at Va constant speed, and means interposed beaXis at a differential speed.

HENRY L. GUENTHER. 

